How to get rid of appliances in Columbus

The short answer

Three steps. Disconnect it safely, empty or drain it, then book the removal at a published price.

Visit minimum $75. A washer and dryer together is $133 + $128 = $261. A full kitchen of fridge, electric range and dishwasher is $164 + $134 + $109 = $407.

Step one: disconnect it properly

We move appliances. We do not do plumbing, gas or electrical work, and you should not want a hauler doing any of those.

• Washer. Shut the hot and cold valves, disconnect both hoses into a bucket, pull the drain hose out of the standpipe, unplug it.
• Electric dryer. Unplug it and disconnect the vent. If it is hardwired, an electrician.
• Gas dryer or gas range. The gas line must be shut off and capped properly by someone who does that for a living. This is not a place to improvise.
• Electric range. Unplug it, or have the circuit disconnected if it is hardwired.
• Dishwasher. Water off, supply and drain disconnected, and remember it is usually screwed to the underside of the countertop.
• Water heater. Fuel and water off, tank fully drained through the hose bib at the base. A full 50-gallon tank is enormously heavier than an empty one, and in Columbus it is nearly always at the bottom of a flight of basement stairs.

Step two: empty and defrost

Do this the day before, not the morning of.

A chest freezer that has stood in a Hilliard garage since the last power outage holds a surprising amount of ice, and meltwater in the bottom turns a heavy object into a heavy, sloshing, unpredictable one on a stairwell. Defrost it, drain it, dry it.

Same for a refrigerator. Empty the door shelves, pull the crisper drawers, take out the glass. Then tape the doors shut, which is basic safety if the unit is going to stand in a garage or on a driveway overnight, especially in a neighborhood full of kids.

Refrigerant: what happens and what it costs

Refrigerators, freezers, window and portable AC units, dehumidifiers and outdoor condensers all contain refrigerant. Federal rules require it to be recovered by a certified technician before the unit is scrapped. It cannot legally go on a truck to a landfill with the sealed system intact.

That is handled as part of the removal. It is inside the flat price. There is no refrigerant fee, no EPA surcharge and no environmental levy added on the day. A standard refrigerator is $164 and $164 is what you pay.

It is also the reason two other routes fail. The free scrap collector who takes clean steel off your Reynoldsburg driveway will usually skip a fridge, and you cannot drive one straight into a disposal site yourself. If a service quotes you a low number for a refrigerator and then adds a fee at the door, that fee is the part they left out of the ad.

Why retailer haul-away only works on delivery day

It is a real benefit and worth using. It is also narrower than people assume, and almost always structured the same way.

• Delivery day only. The crew takes the old unit while they are there with the new one. They are not coming back next week for the second fridge in the basement.
• One for one. The old washer goes when the new washer arrives. The dryer sitting beside it does not, unless you bought a dryer too.
• Disconnected already. Most delivery crews will not disconnect gas, and many will not touch water lines either.
• Same location. If the new fridge goes in the kitchen and the old one is in the basement, that is frequently outside what the crew will do.
• Clear and accessible. Full of food, frozen shut, or blocked in, and it stays.

In Columbus the location clause is the one that bites. Second refrigerators, chest freezers and laundry pairs live in the basement here, and a delivery crew carrying a new washer down a narrow century-home stairwell is often not also carrying the old one up.

If your delivery falls through on any of these, book the orphaned appliance separately. It is $133 for a washer, $164 for a fridge, carried up from wherever it is.

Step three: the Columbus stairs problem

This is the reason most appliance calls in this metro exist. Almost every house built here before about 1960 has a full dug basement, and that is where the laundry, the water heater and the second fridge all live.

The stairs down to them were built narrow and steep, often with a turn at the bottom and a header low enough to duck under. Getting a new appliance down is one job. Getting the old one back up, on your own, with a strap you bought that morning, is a different one.

Carry-up is in the flat price. A water heater out of a German Village basement is $131, the same as one standing in a New Albany garage. No stair charge, ever.

Seasonal timing in central Ohio

Water heaters and furnaces fail in the first hard cold snap, which is also the week every trade in Franklin County is booked out. When the plumber schedules your replacement, book the old tank's removal for the same afternoon or the next morning. Otherwise you get the standard Columbus outcome: a rusting tank standing next to its replacement until spring, quietly staining the basement floor.

The other seasonal item is air conditioning. Window units come out in October and go into the garage, where they stay. A large window unit is $109, a small one is $87, a portable is $85, and an outdoor condenser or heat pump is $115.

What is included

• Two people, the lift, and the truck.
• Carry-up from a basement or down from any floor.
• Refrigerant recovery where applicable, at no extra charge.
• Metal recycling and correct disposal.
• No fuel surcharge, no same-day surcharge, no stair charge.

Not included: disconnecting gas, water or hardwired electrical. Have that done first and the pickup takes ten minutes.

Frequently asked questions